TAYLORS FALLS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's and women's alpine skiing teams were second in both the giant slalom and slalom races in U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) competition at Wild Mountain on Saturday and Sunday.
First year
Jackson Reents provided the highlight of the weekend for St. Olaf by winning the men's giant slalom on Saturday for the teams' lone individual podium finish of the two days. The Oles were second to Northern Michigan University in all four races on the weekend.
Reents won the men's giant slalom with a time of 49.58 seconds over the two runs, moving up from second to the top spot with the lone sub-25-second second run of the day. Sophomore
Austin Mjanger was also in the top 10 in ninth (51.72), with first year William Sullivan just outside the top 10 in 11th (52.24).
Seniors
Winter Johnson and
Jessica Stanton both finished in the top six in the women's giant slalom. Johnson placed fifth (54.45), just over a tenth of a second ahead of Stanton in sixth (54.56).
In the men's slalom, first year
Tate Wilker and Reents logged a 5-6 finish to lead four Oles in the top 15. Wilker's time of 1:01.00 was seven one-hundredths of a second ahead of Reents, with Mjanger less than one second behind in 10th (1:01.98).
Stanton put together the top finish of the weekend for the Ole women in the women's slalom by placing fourth (1:08.28). First year
Eloise Backer (6th, 1:09.24) and Johnson (9th, 1:11.93) joined Stanton in the top 10.
St. Olaf will head to Mt. La Crosse this weekend for races on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 24-25.